Not This Year

The ingredients were in place for another Badger collapse at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Despite a decisively pro-Badger contingent eager to errupt, Northwestern mixed up their zones, trapped us in the corners, back-screened and cut to the basket, and turned 15 UW turnovers into 28 points while holding the Badgers to 2-12 behind the arc. Bo's boys refused to fold, however, as Alando Tucker shook off double and triple teams to will the team to a victory, with key contributions from Landry and Kam Taylor down the stretch. Coach Ryan improved to 2-3 at NW, but more importantly this year's team is now 17-1 and tied for the fewest losses in college basketball. A few observations from yesterday's 56-50 win.

1. While Butch scored early against NW, using his decisive size advantage, he clogged up the lane as the game proceeded and seems unable to catch a simple bounce pass. The team put the game away with #32 on the bench, opening alleys to the basket for Alando Tucker.

2. The zebras allowed NW to set moving screens at the top of the circle, particularly by #52. The Badgers didn't play poor defensively, chasing screens when possible and switching when necessary. A few backdoor cuts led to easy baskets, but overall, not a bad day at the office.

3. UW was forced to set up its offense too high. This led to errant perimeter passes, forced post entries, and ill-advised shots as the clock winded down. The team seems most vulnerable against any zone, particularly those that trap the sidelines.

4. Tucker passed Danny Jones as the #2 scorer in UW history. He's 290 points away from Finley with at least 15 games remaining (13 regular season, 1 BT Tournament, 1 NCAA). If he continues to average 20 points he'll break it at the end of the regular season or in Chicago.

5. #52's cheap shot at Landry was despicable, as were the three different shots delivered at him on the defensive possession that followed. He was actually whistled for the third elbow that he absorbed. The fact that he kept his composure and sealed the victory with two blocked 3 pointers is a credit to his maturity over the course of the last year.